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Durango dumped its oil, connection came loose to radiator

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durango
5K views 28 replies 11 participants last post by  fk186 
#1 · (Edited)
Coming home, I smelled hot oil a few blocks away from my house after a 30 mile trip (805 on the odometer now). I parked in my driveway and saw a big puddle and stream all the way down my street. I saw the lower transmission coolant line connection to the radiator was not connected at all. This is the bottom line running to the top left of the radiator if facing the grill. I pushed the line into the connection fitting and it snapped in tight. I guess QC missed this one too. I'm pissed. I realized I did a dumb thing connecting it back in as now it looks like nothing is wrong except oil sprayed all over my engine bay.

The ATF smells and looks like engine oil. It's not the traditional red sweet smell. At least the call assist worked well, had a flat bed towing it away in 30 minutes.

I didn't have any warning lights and I checked the oil and tranny temp before turning it off and they were normal high at 195 degrees. Hopefully this happened near home and no damage will occur.
 

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#4 ·
That's a bummer. Thanks for letting us know. One more thing I have on the checklist when I pick up my Durango.

The only good news is that you caught it quickly, and it shouldn't be anything more than the inconvenience of a soiled engine bay.
 
#5 ·
Coming home, I smelled hot oil a few blocks away from my house after a 30 mile trip (805 on the odometer now). I parked in my driveway and saw a big puddle and stream all the way down my street. I saw the engine oil coolant line connection to the radiator was not connected at all. This is the bottom line running to the top left of the radiator if facing the grill. I pushed the line into the connection fitting and it snapped in tight. I guess QC missed this one too. I'm pissed. I realized a did a dumb thing connecting it back in as now it looks like nothing is wrong except oil sprayed all over my engine bay. I thought these lines were the transmission coolant lines but it definitely smelled like oil, not ATF. At least the call assist worked well, had a flat bed towing it away in 30 minutes. I didn't have any warning lights and I checked the oil and tranny temp before turning it off and they were normal high at 195 degrees. There was still oil on the dipstick but I was parked on a slope so who knows. Hopefully this happened near home and no damage will occur. Can anyone take a closeup pic of these line connections? or a FSM diagram, Milous? It looks like they are compression fittings but mine don't have any nuts to tighten them down. I'm looking for something behind the white plastic coller that slides around and seems to have no purpose.
Could you post a photo from further back with the location where to look for this. Hope everything works out!
 
#8 ·
Ugh, bad news any way you slice it. I'll try and take a peek at ours today and post some photos.

Agreed that at least it happened close to home, and hopefully no (permanent) damage done. I think Dodge owes you an engine bay cleaning too.

Keep us posted on what the dealer says.
 
#9 ·
I took some shots from ours. I didn't want to pull to hard on the connections, but they seemed to be seated.

I can take a few more pictures, if necessary, later today.
 

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#10 · (Edited)
I took some shots from ours. I didn't want to pull to hard on the connections, but they seemed to be seated.
I can take a few more pictures, if necessary, later today.
Wow, great pics, thanks so much Dave, that's all I need.

My Durango was made on the Tuesday after the long labor day weekend, I'm assuming the jnap folk weren't feeling too good that day.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Dealer called asking my permission to flash the computer as there's an RRT (rapid response transmittal) for a key fob/antenna issue with my VIN. They didn't know anymore than that. Man I wish Milous would do a Durango site like wk2jeeps.com.

They also asked for my pics to send to Chrysler engineering. That's all I got for now.
 
#13 ·
Dealer called asking my permission to flash the computer as there's an RRT (rapid response transmittal) for the key fob/antenna. They didn't know anymore than that. Man I wish Milous would do a Durango site like wk2jeeps.com.

They also asked for my pics to send to Chrysler engineering. That's all I got for now.
I wish he would too. Maybe PM him and/or Willx and see if they can respond to this thread on that....

Did the dealer provide you with a loaner?
 
#15 · (Edited)
Got my Durango back. It was indeed the lower transmission cooler line the factory did not connect all the way in to the radiator. Paper work says they tested the connection, cleaned the engine bay and checked the tranny fluid level. It did not say they added any ATF but I can't imagine they didn't. I kept my eye on the tranny temp all the home. Phew! glad that's over, think I 'dodged' a bullet on this one or at least got a graze.

They also updated my uConnect radio software to 13.38.52 which is the RRT 13-071 they were talking about. Nothing has changed feature wise but it seems even more items in the Driving & Safety settings won't change unless the engine is running. The nav in cluster setting has remained checked now, at least after one restart.

http://www.wk2jeeps.com/tsb/tsb_wk2_0804913e.pdf
 

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#16 ·
Got my Durango back. It was indeed the lower transmission cooler line the factory did not connect all the way in to the radiator. Paper work says they tested the connection, cleaned the engine bay and checked the tranny fluid level. It did not say they added any ATF but I can't imagine they didn't. I kept my eye on the tranny temp all the home. Phew! glad that's over, think I 'dodged' a bullet on this one or at least got a graze. They also updated my uConnect radio software to 13.38.52 which is the RRT 13-071 they were talking about. Nothing has changed feature wise but it seems even more items in the Driving & Safety settings won't change unless the engine is running. The nav in cluster setting has remained checked now, at least after one restart. http://www.wk2jeeps.com/tsb/tsb_wk2_0804913e.pdf
Interesting. I need to ping Willx, because I think that's the version the JGC guys got access to a few weeks ago. I'd heard that it wasn't applicable to our vehicles.

Our truck is on 13.37.00.
 
#18 ·
I reached out to Willx last night, and per the TSB/RRT version 13.38.52 is now applicable to 2014 WD (Durango) where it had not been previously. He wasn't aware, but the bulletin date was from over the weekend. He's been busy working on diesel stuff.

Premium members can get the files from the VIP section, but my guess is they'll be available for download from the UConnect site too.
 
#23 ·
Sucks, but glad everything is ok now. Chances are no permanent damage was done. I had a 1995 GMC Jimmy that dropped its oil drain plug on two occasions leaving it with next to no oil by the time I caught it (oil pressure gauge dropped and engine started sputtering). Thing still ran like a champ for years afterwards.
 
#27 ·
While waxing the D today just was checking everything over and noticed the plastic clip on lower transmission cooler line going into trans cooler was not seated at all on fitting. No leaks and everything seems tight, but was curious if this is normal or an indication of a line getting ready to go.
2014 5.7
 
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